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China’s smog threatens health of global coal projects

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A choking smog across much of northern China threatens not just the health of local residents, but also of major coal projects globally that are still on the drawing board. Beijing’s plans to tackle pollution largely target coal-fired power, which will hit already slowing demand in the world’s top importer of the fuel. With China’s coal demand the primary driver for a slew of mine investments over the past decade, this trend could derail a list of capital intensive coal projects from Australia to Indonesia and Mozambique. Even without the environmental drive, new railways from mines to ports, falling investment in coal-fired generation and slowing power demand growth could see China’s miners export some of their surplus output at competitive prices, hitting regional miners and the viability of new projects. This is a major shift for a country that built an average of two coal-fired power […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China's smog threatens health of global coal projects

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A choking smog across much of northern China threatens not just the health of local residents, but also of major coal projects globally that are still on the drawing board. Beijing’s plans to tackle pollution largely target coal-fired power, which will hit already slowing demand in the world’s top importer of the fuel. With China’s coal demand the primary driver for a slew of mine investments over the past decade, this trend could derail a list of capital intensive coal projects from Australia to Indonesia and Mozambique. Even without the environmental drive, new railways from mines to ports, falling investment in coal-fired generation and slowing power demand growth could see China’s miners export some of their surplus output at competitive prices, hitting regional miners and the viability of new projects. This is a major shift for a country that built an average of two coal-fired power […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canada's oil relative to others in terms of emissions

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Oil sands imported from Canada into the United States have a lighter environmental footprint than often assumed, a consulting company said. IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates said oil sands are the largest source of U.S. oil imports. Globally, Canadian oil sands could account for 16 percent of all new oil production by 2030. Oil sands are viewed as more carbon-intensive to produce than rival grades. IHS CERA said the greenhouse gas intensity of oil sands imported from Canada is less of a threat to the environment than often suspected. “Oil sands are on par with other sources of U.S. crude, including crudes from Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and heavy oil production in the U.S.,” it said in a report published Tuesday. The debate over emissions is one of the sticking points over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline planned from Canada. Shawn Howard, a spokesman […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canada’s oil relative to others in terms of emissions

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Oil sands imported from Canada into the United States have a lighter environmental footprint than often assumed, a consulting company said. IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates said oil sands are the largest source of U.S. oil imports. Globally, Canadian oil sands could account for 16 percent of all new oil production by 2030. Oil sands are viewed as more carbon-intensive to produce than rival grades. IHS CERA said the greenhouse gas intensity of oil sands imported from Canada is less of a threat to the environment than often suspected. “Oil sands are on par with other sources of U.S. crude, including crudes from Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and heavy oil production in the U.S.,” it said in a report published Tuesday. The debate over emissions is one of the sticking points over the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline planned from Canada. Shawn Howard, a spokesman […]

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Hong Kong Finds Switch to Cleaner Fuels Has Flaws

All but one of Hong Kong’s more than 18,000 taxis now burn liquefied petroleum gas, but one smog-causing pollutant soars if those vehicles’ catalytic converters are not regularly replaced. Alex Hofford/European Pressphoto Agency All but one of Hong Kong’s more than 18,000 taxis now burn liquefied petroleum gas, but one smog-causing pollutant soars if those vehicles’ catalytic converters are not regularly replaced. Municipal governments all over the world, particularly in developing countries with rapidly growing fleets of cars and choking air pollution, have been rushing over the last few years to force taxis and buses to switch to burning liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas, frequently offering subsidies for them to do so. But one of the early leaders of the trend, Hong Kong, said on Friday that the city’s shift over the last decade to almost complete dependence on LPG for light commercial vehicles had produced unintended […]

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Poland, Wedded to Coal, Spurns Europe on Clean Energy Targets

BELCHATOW, Poland — They call it Poland’s biggest hole in the ground. The coal mine here is more than eight-and-a-half miles long, nearly two miles wide and as deep in parts as three football fields. Enough coal comes out of it to fuel Europe’s largest coal-fired utility plant, whose chimneys loom in the distance. “The entire world population could fit in this hole,” Tomasz Tarnowski, an administrator here, said in a bit of proud hyperbole as he led a group of reporters on a walk near a towering mound of brown coal about halfway into the mine. Poland is Europe’s coal colossus. More than 88 percent of its electricity comes from coal. Belchatow is one of its huge sources and the largest carbon emitter in Europe. (There’s no “belch” in Belchatow — it is pronounced bel-HOT-oof.) This month, a United Nations conference on climate change will be held in […]

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China expands pollution plan

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (UPI) — China will launch an air pollution inspection program, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. Areas to be targeted include Beijing and regions around Tianjin, Hebei and Hunan provinces, and the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas, state-run news agency Xinhua reported Thursday. Inspections, to begin this month and continue through March 2014, are intended to determine how local governments are enforcing China’s Airborne Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, initiated last month. That plan imposes stricter limits on the levels of PM2.5, airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter. Companies violating air pollution control regulations will be shut down, Xinhua reports. The announcement came as the Chinese city of Harbin, about 780 miles northeast of Beijing, had been blanketed by thick smog since Sunday, resulting in the closure of roads, schools and a major airport. Harbin’s PM2.5 levels on Tuesday reached levels of […]

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Response to a City’s Smog Points to a Change in Chinese Attitude

BEIJING — Emergency measures came swiftly in Harbin, the northeastern city blanketed with hazardous smog this week: Schools were shut down, buses ordered off the roads, the airport closed, police roadblocks set up to check tailpipe emissions from cars. City officials even fanned out in the surrounding countryside, ordering farmers to stop burning the cornstalks left in their fields after the harvest. They were reacting to the first notable surge of air pollution in China this autumn. Residents across the nation’s north fear that the smog is a sign of things to come. With winter approaching, cities north of the Huai River are turning on their coal-fired municipal heating systems, whose emissions were found in one study to shorten residents’ life spans by an average of five years. In Harbin, moist air trapped the pollution at ground level, leaving people to walk through a gray miasma wearing face masks. […]

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Thick smog forces schools, highways to close

HARBIN/CHANGCHUN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — Heavy smog shrouded northeast China on Monday, forcing the closure of schools, as well as disrupting flights and highways. Meteorological authorities in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces issued a red alert for thick smog or fog. The fog will worsen in Harbin, Yichun, Daqing, Suihua, Jiamusi and Qitaihe cities in Heilongjiang with visibility of less than 100 meters in the next 24 hours, said the provincial meteorological station. “After walking outdoors for a while, I felt it difficult to breathe,” said Chu Yushu, a resident in Harbin, provincial capital of Heilongjiang, which had visibility of less than ten meters in parts of the downtown area. The density of PM2.5 — airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter, exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic meter early Monday in Harbin. All highways in Heilongjiang and Taiping International Airport in Harbin were closed due to the […]

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Amid Heavy Pollution, Beijing Issues Emergency Rules to Protect Citizens

Snappily titled the Six Stops and One Wash, a new and complex string of regulations by the Beijing city government is aimed at combating the effects of persistent, heavy air pollution on the populace. A major rule will take private vehicles off the roads on alternate days, depending on their license plates, when pollution is especially bad. The new measures were announced Thursday as air in the capital was deemed “heavily polluted,” according to government air quality readings. Air pollution is a chronic problem in large parts of China. The regulations consist of a system of four colored alerts that will kick in when heavy pollution is forecast. The World Health Organization’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said Thursday that it was classifying air pollution as a Group 1 human carcinogen. Particulate matter, a main component of air pollution, was also being classified as a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple